SEQUIM — The final day of operation of the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Area was a sad occasion for employees and members, with some telling of their hopes that the facility will reopen as they walked out the front doors.
The exercise center at 610 N. Fifth Ave., known as SARC, closed Friday.
Board members voted last month to close the facility, which includes Sequim’s only public pool, because of a lack of funds.
The facility could reopen if a potential partnership with the Clallam County Family YMCA materializes, Frank Pickering, board chairman, has said.
A feasibility study for a proposal that the Clallam County YMCA manage SARC, which is a junior taxing district, in partnership with its board has been completed.
Later this month, YMCA officials plan to present the SARC board with a business plan, Kyle Cronk, YMCA executive director, has said.
If an agreement can be reached, the center could reopen, Pickering has said.
One last swim
Evan Hurn, 18, of Sequim — a former part-time employee who worked at SARC for more than two years — arrived on the final day with his girlfriend and a neighbor to swim one last time.
“This place was pretty much my home away from home,” he said.
“It is pretty tough, but there is not much you can do about it. I am sad.”
However, Hurn does remain “excited to see what the Y can do, or someone else can do,” he said.
Carol Wolff, 60, of Sequim — a SARC member for the past three years — is confident SARC will eventually reopen.
“I am an optimist,” she said. “It is going to come back.”
Wolff was at SARC to take a few final laps in the pool and enjoy one last soak in the sauna, she said.
About 500 people came to SARC on the last day, said Scott Deschenes, former SARC executive director.
“They have nothing else in Sequim that I know of that compares to [SARC],” Wolff said.
Gathering place
SARC is not just an exercise facility but a social gathering place for its members, said Kate Henninger, 18, of Sequim.
Henninger was a SARC supervisor and cashier who had worked at the center for more than two years.
“The sense of community here — we have people who come in and just sit in the hallway, drink coffee and talk,” she said.
“It is their social interaction of the week. It is sad they are going to have to move that somewhere else.”
Deschenes agreed.
“We have a lot of relationships — not only with our employees, but with the people that come here — so I am just trying to say [my] goodbyes,” he said.
“We have a really close-knit community.”
Henninger has a personal connection with the facility, she said.
“I am kind of disappointed because it is my first job, and there is a bit of nostalgia with that,” she said.
“But also, my family has been coming here since I was a baby. I am sad for my six younger siblings. They are not going to get to come and swim.”
Henninger, who also taught swimming at SARC before its closure, said she is “sad for all the kids in swimming lessons. They are not going to be able to come and continue moving up through the levels.”
Layoffs
The 73 employees at SARC, including six on the management team and 67 part-time employees, were informed Oct. 22 they would be out of work.
Deschenes has said SARC had been working to get letters of recommendation for his former employees and help with job leads.
Some of the workers had found job leads by Friday, “which is great. They are just good people,” Deschenes said.
Now out of work, Henninger has applied for other jobs but has not yet had a response.
“It is insane right now because there are 70 [former SARC] employees who are now out looking for jobs,” she said.
“It is going to be quite the competition.”
Mothballed
Deschenes and Burt Cannon, SARC maintenance supervisor, were the last to leave the facility Friday as they took the final steps necessary to shut down operations.
Total closing costs are about $140,000, Deschenes has said.
About $85,000 of that cost can be covered with money derived from a certificate of deposit at First Federal that has been returned to SARC, he added.
The rest will be covered through the remainder of SARC’s reserve funding and potentially through the sale of equipment if necessary, Deschenes has said.
The pool will be kept in a semi-operational state through Nov. 12 to allow the Sequim High School girls swim team to finish out the season, thanks to a $7,500 donation from the SARC Foundation, a recently established 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“For right now, [SARC] is being set up so it will use the least amount of energy and will be locked off, except when the girls swim team is in,” Pickering said.
“Once that is done, then we will probably do some things to the pool to preserve it.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
